Changes in the 2007 Office system

This topic lists changes that affect every program in the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Information about individual programs appears in separate topics. For a list of programs and their associated topics, see Differences in the 2007 Office system.

Description: In Office 2003, check out occurred on the server when the user checked out files from a client. Check out occurs locally as the default behavior in 2007 Microsoft Office system, so the user edits the file offline. The user checks in the file to the server from the local copy.

New functionality also enables users to use Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to perform check-in. The first time a user checks out a file from the client, a message informs the user that the file will be checked out locally. The message provides a link to the folder where the file is checked out, with the option to change the folder. The prompt enables the user to check out the file on the server. The check out behavior is the same as it was in Office 2003, except for changes in the dialog boxes.

Migration path: The previous method of checking out files is still accessible and usable, but with changes in the dialog boxes.

Description: File search is removed from the user interface in several programs. Users no longer click File Search on the File menu to open the File Search task pane. Users do not access this feature from the Tools menu in the File Open dialog box. Users now use the search capability in Windows XP, or use MSN Desktop Search.

Reason for change: This feature was rarely used. Native operating system search functionality and MSN Desktop Search provide more functionality. The search feature in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and in the 2007 Office system enables users to search e-mail more quickly than the File Search feature.

Migration path: In 2007 Office system, users can search more quickly in Office Outlook 2007 as a replacement for searching e-mail, and can use the operating system’s native search functionality or MSN Desktop Search to find other types of files.

Description: The 2007 Office system no longer matches feature states across versions during installation. For example, Microsoft Office Word 2007 templates that are not part of the typical installation for the 2007 Office system are not automatically installed.

Description: The Microsoft Office Application Recovery program is no longer installed. The 2007 Office system now automatically detects programs that are not responding, and provides document recovery and Software Quality Metrics (SQM) when the user attempts to close a program that is not responding.

Reason for change: Very few users were aware of the document recovery tool, and consequently the tool was seldom used. Document recovery now occurs automatically.

Description: OWC11 is removed from the 2007 Office system and now ships only with Microsoft Office Project 2007. The DataFinder functionality in OWC11 is also removed. This affects solutions that use the spreadsheet, chart, pivot table, and data source control functionality of OWC11 in a Web page or client program that requires installation of this ActiveX control on the user's computer. The user experience varies depending upon the host container of the OWC11 ActiveX control.

For Web pages, users might see a broken icon or a notification that OWC is required. For client programs, users might receive a runtime error or other notification. In these situations, users download OWC11 from the Microsoft Download Center. The notification message generated by Office programs provides a link to the download location for OWC11. Neither Microsoft Office Excel 2007 nor SharePoint Designer 2007 now generate Web pages that use OWC.

Reason for change: New technologies such as Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with Excel server side capabilities and the new charting component in the 2007 Office system replace some features of OWC11.

Migration path: When the 2007 Office system is installed, previous versions of Office are removed by default. This prevents software conflicts and ensures that you have the latest versions of shared components. As a result, OWC installed with previous versions of Office is removed. If you have documents or solutions that depend on OWC, these solutions do not function properly if the correct version of OWC is not installed on the client machine. There are three primary courses of action:

Install the correct version of OWC on the appropriate client computers. The installation can be performed in the following ways:

If there is wide usage of OWC throughout your corporation, OWC can be chained into the installation of the 2007 Office system using the Office Customization Tool. You can obtain the necessary version of OWC (OWC10 or OWC11) from the Microsoft Download Center at Office XP Tool: Web Components (for OWC10) or Office 2003 Add-in: Office Web Components (for OWC11).

If there is small or localized use of OWC in your corporation, you could allow users to download OWC from the Microsoft Download Center on an as-needed basis. If OWC is not found on the client computer when the Web page displays, pages authored with Excel 2003, FrontPage 2003, and Access 2003 that require OWC display a link to the OWC download location. For custom solutions that use OWC, follow this same process of checking for OWC and displaying a download link if OWC is not installed.

Migrate OWC-based documents and solutions to a comparable technology, such as Excel Services. This option largely depends on the importance of the documents or solutions, the length of time they will be in service, and the degree to which OWC solves your business issues.

Discontinue the use of documents or solutions if they are no longer needed.

Description: Support for the Messenger registry key for the Persona menu at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\PersonaMenu is removed. Customers always see Send an Instant Message if they are running an Instant Messenger program.

Reason for change: The default is to have this registry key turned on, so customers do not notice a difference.

Description: Support for the Phone registry key in the Persona menu located at HKCU or HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\PersonaMenu and HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\office\12.0\PersonaMenu is removed. Customers always see the call menu item on the Persona menu.

Reason for change: The default is to have this registry key turned on, so customers do not notice a difference.

Description: The Save Workspace command is located on the Tools menu instead of on the File menu. Users can use the Save As file type from the File menu or the tool in the tool well to access this feature.

Description: The 2007 Office system installs only from a Local Installation Source, not from an uncompressed network source or from an Admin Image. Setup.exe is required for all installations of the 2007 Office system. Direct MSI execution is not supported. As a result of the requirement for local caching, policy-elevated installations are not possible.

Reason for change: OWC, which represents the main set of Web parts in this download, is deprecated. In addition, the Great Plains solutions are superseded by offerings from Microsoft Business Solutions.

Migration path: There is no migration path for OWC. For Great Plains solutions, use the Microsoft Business Solutions Center. For the QuickQuote Web Part, use the MSNBC quote Web part.